Retirement is Good
by willow1850
Summary: Buffy retires and move back as close to the Sunnydale crater as she can. There she bumps into an old friend.


Authors note:

This has a shifting POV between Buffy and Oz.

Buffy:

After a really long day I had just unpacked the last of my things, I had officially moved. I had left the gang back in Cleveland. I had officially retired at the ripe old age of 27, in as much as I will ever be able to retire that is. I moved back as close to home as I could manage. Sunnydale was still a crater but in a lot of ways it would always be home. Instead of Sunnydale I just picked the closest civilized town to the Sunnydale crater and moved. Giles helped me with the move and insisted on providing a house and a 'retirement' salary. He really wanted me to have a chance at normality. I really wanted me to have a chance at normality,

I looked around my new home, it felt nice, no it felt good. I decided to blow off some steam and head out to the first local club, pub or tavern I could find in this place and have a drink. Free from the judgemental eyes of all the underage slayers I had become accustomed to.

The first place I came to was quaint but clean looking and no obvious seedy reputation. I opened the door, sat on the first free barstool and ordered a beer, taking the first sip was nirvana after all the stress of the move. It was nice in here, it was somewhat busy and it had a nice buzz to it. I looked around as I sipped my beer when I suddenly felt a presence behind me, "May I sit?". Something in that voice pricked my memory and I turned. My face immediately broke out in a smile "Oz" I stood and hugged him. Seeing him after all these years made me happy in a way I wouldn't have predicted.

Oz:

I was sitting with my usual group friends, in our regular Saturday night venue. It was always a good night with good people. One of my friends was telling me about his most recent exploit when I heard the door open and my nostrils flared. My eyes found its target immediately, Buffy. It had been so long since I had seen her. My breath caught and I lost track of the conversation. She was stunning as always but why was she here. Without really thinking it through I stood and announced as I threw some cash on the table "Hey, I just saw an old friend. See you guys later ok". They nodded and smiled and looked around trying to see who I had spotted. They were already distant thoughts now. I walked over to her and for a moment I almost walked away but at the last second, I just asked "May I sit?".

Buffy:

Seeing him made me smile. He sat down and ordered a beer. I just stared at him. He looked good. He smelled good. Eventually I managed to say "Wow long time".

"It has been" He said with a smile that crinkled his eyes "Its really good to see you Buffy, you here on business".

"No, I'm just here. I moved here just today actually" I said casually.

"Saying goodbye to your slayer ways then?" He asked with a gentle smile.

"Kind of" I smiled back. I hadn't really stopped smiling to be honest. I had missed Oz. I had missed his soothing calm. We talked and reminisced and it felt easy and good. As the evening wore on I could feel an odd tension creep in between us, it was warm and electric. I felt it creep up my chest and without thinking I found myself idly saying "You know, I had always hoped I would meet a guy like you, but it never happened".

Oz looked oddly back at me, goddammit why he was always so hard to read "Oh?" he said casually "In what sense?".

I felt awkward but oddly giddy, I took a breath and made a decision "Well… I mean, you were always so calm and so grounded. I think I both need and needed that in my life to be honest. Also" I blushed. Blushing was very unslayer like I internally chastised myself.

"Also?" He asked quietly, it was almost a whisper.

"Well its complicated" I hedged, "and I didn't understand it for a very long time. Until Spike of all people said something to me once. At the time it hurt to hear, but he was right too. I guess it hurts when someone pulls out a piece of you and shows it to you like that. It did help make some sense of some of what I was feeling back then. He told me that I needed some monster in my man, that I needed it to feel normal… He wasn't wrong. I guess that is something I was looking for too, only it never seemed to work out for me. I could never be with a vanilla human anymore I don't think. I need someone who can meet me, who can take me, not just physically but someone who challenges me. I don't want a relationship to be a competition anymore, but I am also done pretending I am less than I am" I stared at my hand, unwilling to meet his eyes.

Oz:

We sat in a long awkward silence for a moment. I was stunned and delighted and if I am to be honest a little turned on. She had revealed her cards it was only fair I share mine. I inhaled and reached over and laid my hand on hers. I felt a current of energy as we touched and her eyes popped up to meet mine. It was sexy and vulnerable and made my heart ache with need. I swallowed.

"I have always liked you, you know, when I was human and knew you from afar, I knew you were gorgeous and your easy confidence made me make a lot of assumptions about you. I was young and wanted what I thought was something deeper… Then I became a wolf and Willow accepted me as a man and a wolf, and at the time that is what I thought I was; a man and a wolf. She is a good person, but she didn't understand and for a long time neither did I. You did, I see that now. You knew I was the wolf all the time, I don't know how you did but you did and you accepted me anyway. Perhaps it was because of your own slayer struggles. I don't know. I could see you, see me, and at the time it really confused me. I didn't understand, I do now though. Also, I like that you can handle yourself, that you can handle me. You don't need my protection or need to be protected from me". My voice had grown thick and raspy by the end and I realized that we were holding hands. I hadn't remembered that happening.

She leaned over to me and my heart thudded and she whispered in my ear three intoxicating words "I want you". I nodded and we walked out hand in hand.

Buffy:

We hadn't talked since I told him I wanted him, and I did. I wasn't sure I had ever felt this intensely aware of a person before as we walked to my home. I knew what was happening and it excited me. We got to my front door and I fumbled the keys as Oz pressed himself into me from behind and I could feel his breath on my neck. Tease. I felt his smile against my neck as I forced a breath and opened the door and he pushed me inside as he growled in my ear "I won't hold back if you don't". I mewled my response and he spun me and pinned me against the wall. It hurt and it was delicious. I kicked the door closed before wrapping my legs around him and grinding again his hardness. I pushed off the wall and pushed him to the floor and I pulled off my top and bra. His eyes were dilated and filled with heat. I ripped his t-shirt and we hurriedly scrambled off the rest of our clothes.

Neither of us had any interest in tender foreplay, I pulled him to me forcefully and felt him slide inside. He flipped me and I felt the impact vibrate through my body as I lost my breath for a moment. I laughed. It was a good laugh. He pounded into me roughly and I met each thrust with vigour. It was going to be fast for us, it was going to be hard, it was going to be rough and I was eager for it. I could feel the new delicious tension build and build as our bodies rhythmically met each other over and over. Our release was mind-blowing and intense and simultaneous. I realized then we had been waiting for it since our eyes met at the beginning of the night.

Oz:

She was intense and sexual and perfect. The gentlemen in me wants to say we made love several times, but that was too passionate and forceful for the words making love to truly encapsulate. She is someone worthy of making love to though, and I hope that we can do that too, soon.

I woke sometime later and for a moment I wondered where I was and then I looked over at her prone form strewn across the bed. Wow! That had really happened, it had felt like it could have been a vivid dream but there she was. I lay there staring at her naked back and the beginning of the curve of her breast for what could have been an eternity. I felt her wake and I felt her hesitate, I hoped she had no regrets, I certainly had none.

Buffy

I woke, and the reality of last night came crashing in. Oh god, does he regret it? Will Willow be mad at me, at us? Do I regret it? I did a mental inventory of the various delicious aches in my body and decided most certainly not. I turned hesitantly to face him as I could feel his shifting weight on the bed. Before I could speak he leaned over and said "Good Morning, last night was" I felt sick certain he was going to say it was a mistake "amazing". I relaxed. He finished leaning over a kissed me with a tender light kiss. Then we made love, and it was tender and gentle and loving. I was so glad I had moved, turns out I really did need this.


End file.
